Glitch
by Jaegothis
Summary: Most pokemon are born, but I was designed. I was created to be the best of the best, but every creation has its flaws and every generation becomes obsolete. A gible's adventure into a world that is constantly changing, and where technology advances faster than pokemon do.
1. Chapter 1

When I landed in this world, a world of colorful skies and fragrant flowers, I looked up and marveled at the beauty of it.

And then I hit the ground.

Pushing myself clumsily to my feet, I look at my gray claws, stubby and dull, and run them over my enormous snout. Taking a look around me, I note that I am in a soft forest meadow, alone and without… anything. I feel the sense of being watched, but when I turn around, there is nothing. No ominous eyes glitter out at me from the flickering midday forest shadows, and no mysterious sounds echo out from the depths of the forest. There isn't even any birdsong. Just stillness and silence.

I am confused.

Not only about my surroundings, either. I have no recollection of how I even arrived in this deathly silent meadow. I don't know who I am, or even what I am, and yet I seem to know so much about myself- that my claws can turn to the hardest steel on command, or that there's fire inside my body somewhere, waiting to be released. I know that I am a creature, an animal.

But who am I?

A distant shout reaches me. It sounds distorted, like I am suddenly underwater, but I am not- even when this forest flips upside down and I am thrown, once more, into an unfamiliar world. Now the trees have been replaced by red stone and the grass under my feet has turned into tile. I sit on the tile, feeling much like a victim of unfortunate circumstance.

Suddenly I am rising off of the ground, in the arms of a beast much taller than me. It flashes its teeth at me, so I do the same, and accompany it with a sharp growl. Who is this foul-smelling creature to touch me?

The disgusting creature spins me around so that I am facing another equally ugly creature of the same species. Maybe the two of them are mates. I don't envy their offspring. "This one is a special breed. He's was designed stronger than most others of its species, smart to understand human speech, and with a fearsome moveset to boot." Its voice is just as bland as its appearance, but no matter how hard I try to escape its grasp, I remain held in the air like an exhibit on display. "I generated him with previous intelligence so that you could begin training right away and not have to bother with raising a baby pokemon."

The other creature runs a gentle hand over my scaly head. "He seems not to like people much." Its voice is soft and feminine. "Are you sure he's safe? And what do you mean, you 'designed' and 'generated' him?" She has to bend down to look at me, fixing me with her sharp gray eyes.

The one holding me finally puts me down to keep talking to her. Big mistake. I turn around again and sink my teeth into the fleshy part of its bare leg, biting down with as much force as I can muster. I feel a squirt of warm, nasty blood hit my face and retract my jaws as the creature above me squawks like a wounded bird. I swipe my short tongue around the roof of my mouth and watch in satisfaction as the injured creature wobbles around. I hear a soft chuckle come from the female creature.

"Stupid brat!" it snarls, reaching down to smack me with the back of its hand. The blow isn't gentle. I'm knocked onto my back, unable to get back up, and left looking up at the boring walls closing me in. "Ah- yes. As I was saying, miss, this one clearly has a very… advanced fighting instinct."

The other one takes a look at me on my back, stubby legs churning in an attempt to get my fat body into a semblance of control. Then she looks at the stupid creature that put me in this position. She tilts her head and says, "It's not right, how you make them, Jax. It's unnatural, and I would guess illegal. But…"

Unnatural? Am I unnatural?

"Jax" leans forward. I can see a glint in his dark eyes. He looks like a sharpedo smelling blood.

The comparison had jumped unbidden to my mind. What's a sharpedo?

"I know you wanted a dragon for the Elite Four. This is the best bet you'll get. He's a truly _astonishing_ breed, and no one will ever find out about his… origin." Jax pulls something from his pocket, a red and white ball, and tosses it up in the air a few times. Are all of the creatures of his kind so arrogant and repellant? "Or, if you want to wait, I'm sure I can improve on him in a few months. He was just a test. But my prices will go up, of course."

I tune them out, instead focusing on the way Jax's drying blood matches the walls, or the funny way that all four of both creatures' feet are different bright colors, or literally anything except this boring, monotone conversation the two are having. If I was able to get out of this stupid enclosure and escape, I would, but unfortunately, I am quite sure that would be impossible.

And so, I am stuck here, listening to these silly creatures bicker over me. I don't care where I go or what happens to me, but if the rest of my life is spent with one of these two, I think I will have to learn how to more effectively tune them out.

"Alright Cynthia, I'll keep him. Just for a few months though. And if you don't show up on time, I'm keeping your money!"

I will definitely have to get better at not listening.

/

**I got the writing itch. I'm not sure if I'll ever write anything else to this story, because I found it to be incredibly boring. Anyways, I'm still alive to anyone who cares. **


	2. Chapter 2

Jax, it turns out, is not a good trainer, if one could even call him that.

"Go, Gible! Use your dragonbreath!"

I find myself flying through the air, landing on yet another unfamiliar forest floor. Again! I'm sick of this already. Only this time, I'm not alone. In front of me sits a bland brown pokemon with a very… vacant stare. There is just no softer way to describe it.

It's not even worth fighting. I turn away from it's blank gaze with a huff, glaring up at the terribly tall creature (human, the girl had called them) trying to order me around. Is beating this thing supposed to make me stronger? Is this thing even _alive?_

It blinks very slowly.

I waggle my claws at Jax in the most sarcastic manner I can. After all, why should I obey Jax, or any of his species? What makes them better than me, or any better than even that silly brown pokemon drowning in its own drool?

"Gible," Jax repeats evenly, "use your dragonbreath on this bidoof, if you want to eat tonight."

Filthy, filthy creature. My stomach rumbles at the thought of eating something, but I stubbornly rebel. He fed me some mushy sludge last night, claiming that I would need my strength for the next day. The sun is already high in the sky and will soon start falling again. The sludge will have to be enough to get me through the night. I growl a little. Jax and his threats of food should have no power over me.

He sighs. "Loyalty was never factored into your design. I guess I'll have to do better with the next version." He pulls a red and white ball, the thing that I've discovered that somehow has the power to cage and release me at will, from his pocket. "Return, you worthless thing."

I feel dizzy for a second, and when I blink to shake the shadows from my vision, I'm back in the silent forest I first awoke in. I've come to realize that this is the inside of that ball that Jax tosses around.

Back in the real forest, the bidoof blinks very slowly, wonders what it just saw, and decides to pass its day by gnawing on the rocks down by the riverbank.

/

When I come out again, into the real world, hunger starts biting at me like the ice in a blizzard. (A blizzard? I've never even seen snow. Where do these thoughts come from?) I hadn't felt anything when I was in the ball, but now my stomach gurgles painfully.

I am on a street of some kind. The fake light above me flickers and splutters, casting erratic shadows on the ground. It's growing dark quickly.

Jax is there, of course, leaning against the side of one of the tall buildings that line the narrow streets. I wish I could see the moon through those shiny transparent walls, but I only see people- a woman, laughing at someone out of sight; a human child, being picked up by its father; another pokemon looking out at the dusky sky. The street is still and quiet, and so I am alone with Jax.

"You know," he says in a conversational tone, finally breaking the silence, "Growing takes a lot of energy."

It's such a bizarre statement. My stomach rumbles again, very loudly.

Jax smiles. "I bet you're very hungry, aren't you? Young pokemon eat so much." His tone is starting to scare me. He sounds nice, he sounds genuine, and there is something not right at all about it. He opens his palm to me. In it, a few tiny, wrapped bundles lie- and they smell _good_. He doesn't hand them to me. Instead, he drops them on the dirty ground.

I reach for them eagerly, piercing through the papery outer covering to get to the delicious smell within. Jax keeps talking, maybe as uncomfortable with the silence of the dark street as I am. "They're candies. I made them myself. They might not be as potent as an authentic shuckle-made candy, but I think they'll do."

There was maybe half a dozen of them on the ground when he dropped them. I'm already through half of them. "Of course," Jax continues, "it takes energy to get stronger, like I said before. You're not very full, are you? Good. You'll be on your own for food tomorrow. I bet there's plenty of it in the forest, if you know where to look. And if you don't look… well, I guess I'll have something learned from this experiment."

His tone drops off at the end, back into the unfriendly, callous voice that likes to order me around and call me worthless and make threats. I don't care. He can say whatever he likes. I'm not listening.

I swipe my tongue around my mouth, finished with the candies but not feeling filled up at all. Out comes the ball again. In goes the hungry gible.

The last thing I hear before I am once again doomed to the silent forest is, "I wonder why you don't talk?"

/

It's morning, and there's birdsong.

Was I let out of the ball when I was sleeping? Where is Jax? Did he leave? Am I alone?

Suddenly I feel very small among the towering trees.

My stomach interrupts my depressing thoughts. It's been a full sun cycle, at least, since I ate last. Maybe more. There's a bush to my right with a few bright blue berries scattered across its branches. On instinct, I open my mouth and breath out a small spurt of purple fire at the bush.

A berry drops onto my snout, lightly crisped on the outside. I devour it in one bite.

Not very filling, either… but I do feel stronger after that.

Despite my best efforts, the other berries are all out of my reach, and the purple fire stubbornly refuses to come out again. So, I am forced to move on in search of more low-hanging fruit, literally.

In my aimless, wandering search, I see another one of those vacant brown pokemon, just sitting there. And somewhere in the back of my admittedly gigantic head, I wonder:

What do bidoof taste like?

/

**Next on Gible's Adventures in Carnivorism: We discover what bidoof taste like. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Quick note: Please keep your personal drama out of my reviews. I'm literally just here to write a story, not get involved in your issues. Thank you. **

**/**

Dragonbreath, as I soon discover, is not meant to be used for cooking.

When I come upon the bidoof, sunning itself in a rare clearing where the sun actually breaks through the thick leaf cover, I take a deep breath and spit a ball of bright purple-blue flame at the ignorant pokemon. It makes a weird, pained sound, and turns towards me, baring its blunt teeth in a clear threat.

Maybe it would be threatening if it was actually looking at me and not _through_ me. It seems fixed on the foliage behind me.

I wonder if I've had bad luck with silly bidoof, or if it's an innate talent of theirs to be so mindless.

Either way, it doesn't matter to me. I close the gap between us as quickly as I can with my short legs, preparing to sink my jaws into what would hopefully be tender flesh.

The bidoof meets my charge with its own, lowering its head. I think it's preparing to headbutt me. I try to turn to avoid the hit, not wanting to be met with that kind of force from its likely incredibly thick skull, but I never get the chance to dodge. Lightning flashes from the sky, crashing into the ground between us. I don't feel any semblance of electricity, but the quake when the bolt hits the earth throws both the bidoof and I to the ground.

The sky is still clear. The clouds far above us are wispy and thin. So how could a thunderstorm form and dissipate so quickly?

I climb to my feet slowly, wondering if the static I hear crackling is just my ears ringing from the sheer proximity of the powerful lightning strike. The bidoof is on the ground, unmoving, but my gut tells me that there's something severely wrong. There's nothing else in sight, but lightning doesn't just come out of nowhere.

From the shadows of the dark forest, at the very edge of the clearing, comes a faint, pulsing light. Two golden eyes peer out at me. The light reflects off of them strangely. There shouldn't be enough light underneath the foliage for me to see them so clearly. I growl at the eyes, standing protectively in-between the charred body of the bidoof in the clearest sign of dominance I can muster.

But to stand against a beast that can control thunder and lightning? Is that wise?

Then it steps out of the dense undergrowth, into the light of the late afternoon, and my confidence returns. It stands on four feet only a little taller than me. Its sky-and-night colored fur sparks madly, and static jumps wildly from its body to the tip of its strangely shaped tail. A sharp frown creases its face.

The sunlight has made the strange glow fade from its eyes (or maybe that was in my imagination all along). The thing bares its teeth and starts to make a growling-whining sound, raising a paw and extending wicked looking claws. It begins to circle around the clearing, slowly making its way closer to me- and now I realize how skinny it is, and how the flickering static in its fur creates shadows along its ribcage.

It must be as hungry as I am, if not even more starved.

Do I really want to fight with this scrawny, aggressive, dare I say pathetic creature over a pokemon that can certainly be found in abundance scurrying among the roots of the forest?

But this is _my _catch. I won't be chased off by this malnourished spark cloud!

I rush at it, taking a deep breath and preparing my purple fire. It meets me almost eagerly, swiping its claws at my face. I close my eyes and turn my head, letting its claws skitter uselessly off the top of my head. I grab the foot in my mouth as it falls, sinking my front teeth into its soft, furry paw.

In response, it hisses fiercely and flexes its paw, extending its claws (and several volts) straight into my tongue.

I spit it out immediately. Blood and saliva drips from my drooling mouth. The other pokemon growl-hisses again but keeps its distance, heavily favoring its injured paw. We circle around each other, keeping the bidoof between us.

The sparks in the other pokemon's fur have died down to an occasional crackle along its body. It must be getting weaker! I rush forwards and it rears onto its back paws to swipe at me. I lunge for its soft underbelly, mouth open and ready to chomp down.

The blood in my mouth takes on a sharp, acrid taste, and lightning streaks from the sky to crash upon my scales.

Dazed, my momentum stops completely. The world around me fades in and out and my ears ring shrilly. There's no feeling of electricity in my body, but an awful smell rises from my scales. I suspect that if I were to look at them, they would be charred black all over. As my vision blurs and darkens, it's all I can do to keep myself upright, and it's terribly clear that I am barely hanging on to consciousness.

The other pokemon cries out in triumph and closes the short distance between us, plunging its good paw into the damaged scales in between my eyes. Its claws lash out and prick the skin under the scales. If I had control of myself, I would duck under the paw and use my teeth to rip and tear into this small, furry, _parasite_, but I can hardly move, and by now its claws are tugging at my scales, and it feels like my skull is being ripped out, and what did I just hear-

/

The silent forest greets me once more.

I have begun to hate the solace. My blood rushes with the heat of battle, but what is there to take out the adrenaline on? I dig my claws deep into the fragrant soil, relishing the feeling of grass being torn. My head throbs fiercely, but when I carefully reach up to touch my snout and feel around the damaged scales, they're all still intact.

And then, it begins to rain.

The gentle shower doesn't last more than a minute, but when the rain clears, the sun emerges again and suddenly I feel very, very sleepy.

Surely when I wake up again, I will feel better…


	4. Chapter 4

The warmth of the sun on my scales drifts with me through my sleep. When I wake up again in the timeless, silent forest, that sensation is all that I remember.

I feel strong again, and pleasantly full, like I have just finished a good meal.

When I am called out again into the real world, it is not into the forest where electricity burned my tongue, or where claws ripped and tore at my scales and skin.

Jax sits on a flimsy chair in a small, empty room. He is very white today, from his feet to his neck. The walls are bare and painted an ugly brown, just a shade lighter than the fine coating of dust on my feet. The only other thing in the room, aside from the door and a fake sun, which beams down a harsh white light on us, is a metal object in the corner. Its flat face flickers on between blue and black. A low humming fills the room.

Jax says nothing for a great deal. I sit on the floor silently, looking up at him and the boring walls, and wonder why I am here. He has dark spots under his eyes. His fingers twitch against the side of his leg. He doesn't even seem to notice that I'm here.

Eventually, and after a great deal of staring at the floor, Jax pulls from a hole in his leg two balls. One is the blood and snow colored one I associate with myself, but he also takes out a sky and snow colored ball.

What is snow?

I have a very brief feeling of intense cold, which feels so out of place in this sterile, lukewarm room.

Jax clears his throat. "I'd like for you to meet a friend of mine, Gible."

Another human, like Cynthia? Is she coming back?

The sky colored ball opens, and the low humming in the room is replaced by the crackle of static electricity. The blue furred creature from before appears in a flash of white light and a disgruntled hiss. Instantly my scales start to tingle. I bare my teeth at it, calculating how long it will take me to cross the short distance between us.

Has it been captured by Jax, or was it placed on purpose in the forest so that we would meet? Why has Jax brought us out together?

I hear a growl rise in its own throat. It doesn't favor one paw anymore. Looking at it, it seems perfectly healthy, just like I do.

I ready myself to meet its charge.

"_Stay!"_ Jax thunders.

Both of us back down, shocked. Jax scowls. "You will not fight in this room. In fact, you two will not fight at all! Your relationship will be… symbiotic." When neither of us moves, he continues, his face relaxing once more. "Gible, this is Shinx, and likewise. Both of you are… special. You two are _destined_ to be greater than any other, and _I_ have changed nature itself!" His voice booms throughout the room. I don't dare to move, afraid of what he might do. What does he mean? What has he done to us?

When neither Shinx nor I make a sound, Jax's voice calms again. "So far, you two haven't deigned to speak yet. That's okay. When we are all done, you will not need to."

Jax stands up and moves to the metal contraption in the corner of the room, the only other thing in this bland box. It doesn't seem to be a pokemon, because Jax taps on it a few times, and it doesn't move at all. Its "face" stops flickering between colors and maintains a steady blue glow.

Now that his back is turned, I eye Shinx warily. It has relaxed its pose but doesn't take its golden gaze off of me. For now, at least, neither of us make a hostile move towards the other.

Jax remains at the not-pokemon for another minute before turning back to us. In one hand he holds two tubes with long, skinny claws coming out of them. The tubes are clear and hold a glowing blue liquid, like the color of hot coals. "This is something else that will help you grow. I have personally worked on this for a very, very long time." He holds the tubes up to light, almost reverently.

"Don't struggle, please." Jax kneels down and takes Shinx by the neck- not roughly, but firm enough to hold it.

Shinx struggles and lets out an aggrieved growl, but Jax hardly seems to notice the electricity scorching his hand. He jabs the claw into Shinx, sliding it smoothly into the skin at the base of its skull and draining the liquid within into Shinx. "I know it hurts," he says gently, over Shinx's distressed whine. "But overcoming our pain makes us stronger. You will be one of the greatest, someday. I have seen it."

He turns to me with the second claw. Even if I wanted to run, there would be nowhere to go. If this will make me stronger, why should I run anyways?

I will never be weaker than Shinx.

Jax slides the claw into the back of my neck. I can feel as the blue liquid enters my body, rushing through my veins. My vision swims for a second, but aside from that, I don't feel any different.

How is this supposed to help me...?

Jax has a third ball in his hand now. This one is the color of the night sky on top. From it, a golden pokemon appears.

"Alakazam…" Jax tilts his head back, closing his eyes. "Take us somewhere far from anyone."

The pokemon touches me and Shinx with its metal fingers, and the room is empty once more.

/

I very much dislike being taken places against my will, but that seems like the only way I travel.

Jax, Shinx, Alakazam and I reappear in a forest (funny how I seem to be encountering so many of those). The sky can't be seen from the ground- the trees mostly blot out the sky, but here and there light trickles through, casting a deep twilight over the whole forest. Noise comes from everywhere. For once, the forest I'm in feels _alive_.

"I have made you two to be perfect." Jax towers over me and Shinx. He doesn't bother to look around, completely unruffled by the cacophony around us. "Years of research and study have finally come together to create you two. Your design has cost us much more than you could ever imagine. You were made to be perfect, so you will be perfect!"

Jax finally breaks his gaze from ours. "I have learned I am not an experienced trainer. So, I will let nature take its course." He takes the Alakazam by the hand. "One last thing. You two won't be able to survive on your own for very long out here. I trust that you two will both do what's best."

Jax looks both of us squarely in the face again. "I will be watching."

He and the Alakazam vanish with a _fwoop_.

Shinx barely spares me a look of unveiled contempt before stalking off into the shadows of the deep forest.

Once again, I am alone.

/

**I'm not really sure what I'm writing anymore. This story is just Gible being alone in increasingly bad circumstance. I wish I knew what I was doing.**

**Next: Gible is on Mount Doom, trying to destroy the One Ring. Alone, of course. **


End file.
